User talk:Hypno-disc
Welcome Hi, welcome to ! Thanks for your edit to the File:LADY SEREN.jpg page. If you need help, read through our help pages or contact a . If there are no active admins here, stop by Community Central and check out our forums. Looking for live help? Then join us for an upcoming webinar to chat with staff and other Wikia editors. You can also check our Staff blog to keep up-to-date with the latest news and events around Wikia. Lastly, check out the Wikia Video Library, where you can find premium licensed videos to add to the wiki. All of these links are a great way to start exploring Wikia. Happy editing, Sarah Manley (help forum | blog) Hi there, I'm glad that you also work hard to maintain this site! I also think that the humiliation of Edwin and Barclay is just hilarious, as you just don't expect once cruel warlords to suffer like this :) In my opinion, that's just little punishment for them for trying to tear the country apart (as said by Steele in mission 5: Return to the Monastery), but this is only a tale, where the good side wins and the bad side only has to approve it, isn't it? The submitted link is also useful to point out ways how SH2 is moddable (which is very limited with the exception of design). I have actually seen methods of swapping weapons of lords, skins of troops and buildings in several forums. The most amazing at all is the work at Stronghold Knights, where forum members played with the in-game map editor, revealing its usefulness and detailedness. Take a look on it, you will be stunned :) As with your pics, I like that you found some original wallpapers, they are convincing as usual (Firefly did a very good job at SH2 media). But, the lords on screenshots are just blurry. I was able to shoot and save a pic of the King with Paint, resulting in a somewhat good quality. Try adjusting the in-game quality or use the aforementioned original method, I'm sure there will be no problem in the end. Actually, I have been browsing this site for some time and I was disappointed that SH2 has little to say about its gameplay. I know that it is nowhere comparable to SH1 or Crusader, but it is still fun to play nowadays. Its 3D vision, the variety of troops, great campaign missions and the ability to afford it on older PCs make this game enjoyable. As a second point, I love analyzing the AI in computer games. I find out details by pure experience: playing hours just watching the AI building up, commanding troops, managing economy and the changes in behaviour according to the circumstances. For example: have you ever thought that the SH2 lord won't recruit troops if he has less than 200 gold? That's a neat fact to know and helps you during gameplay (i.e. if your ally is nearing this amount, he may need reinforcements if not in a good position). Personally, I haven't ever played a SH2 multiplayer, since I really didn't feel up to or get round to play with it. I sticked instead to the Kingmaker mode, where the AI is quite a challenge if left unnoticed. I don't like neither harassment, nor inadequate defense, so I always prepare a good defense unless I can micromanage my units enough to control the situation. Beating off is an art to learn for each Lord. But until you get to that, you face numerous groups from the AI in order to bring you down. You will undoubtedly concentrate on their variety and tactics, which you can use to your advantage in later games. As you work out your strategies, then the ways of sieging of enemy castles, you notice things. All in all, with time you get used to watching your enemies crumbling in front of your eyes. I hope that we can keep up the good work and make this Wiki as shining as once it had never been before ;) Ixsc15 (talk) 19:10, January 9, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: Don't blame me, if it was not you, who uploaded the blurry pictures, I couldn't reveal who the uploader was. Hi again, Changing to another lord is a fun thing to try out, although I prefer the original skin of Steele. This is because his helmet is pulled down while moving or riding his horse :) My favourite overall character is Pascal, as he has a funny accent and speaking style and he's just pure evil and mysterious. If we can get round to play some time, I'd choose him :) As with reskins and design mods, I can recommend the SH-Knights site (as already mentioned in my previous post) and the SH2 downloads site. Choose the 'Utility programs' and 'Miscellaneous files' sections and you will find loads of mods and tools to do them. For example, click the link to the lords' weapons swap mod. You can also create your own skins if you have the Granny 2 program (the engine SH2 was modelled with). I'm sure that changing the surfaces of the object can make a simple, but barely invisible change :) To be honest, the 'mascot' for SH2 is most likely to be Sir William. You find him on the loading screen, the menu screen, intro, everywhere. He also appears on your image: William has black hair, he wears the same outfit and shield as in the intro, and finally... just look at his face :) Coming to Matthew, I don't know any pictures or drawings of him, but actually he is the one who tells his story as a page of William. More information is revealed during the campaigns (preferrably the Path of War) and in spite of his appearence (with age), he is just as unexperienced as faithful to William in the beginning as in the intro. Actually, it is a mystery what Olaf does in the end and in addition, in a setup screen you can see him and William fighting (Olaf swings his axe and hits William's shield), but that's a different topic to discuss. All in all, most of the merchandise pictures show William and not Matthew. As with mission 6, I also had a very easy victory over the sieging party. I prepared well for the siege and hosted several catapults in front of the first wall line. As the siege camps were set up, I rushed in with the catapults and destroyed them so I only had to face a few trebuchets and ballistae. When both siege camps were demolished and all laddermen had been disposed of, I recognized the Hawk's and the Hammer's troops completely stationary. They didn't react to catapult stones or arrows. I had to move out and remove them in order to achieve victory. Did that happened anywhere near the cutscene where Seren comes to William's aid? That's the point, where the sieging teams wait for a brief time until they finally start. It is also possible that the attacks are programmed according to game years passed, so after a time the AI just does nothing and sits down to wait his death. Last but not least, I suspect that the three underlings of the Hawk are just simple overrides of the existing lords. They all use existing crests of Grey, Edwin and Barclay and they are programmed to be passive (you have the 'disable lord' option in the mapmaker). What the creators may have done is that they overwrote the name labels for the vassals and gave them a pre-existing castle (you'll see how the lords won't bother to replace their units and buildings). This way, they don't exist separately but as the usual foes you can choose from the menu. Exploring this game and having enjoyable moments are the best in SH2. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 16:20, January 10, 2013 (UTC) Hello there, As I said in a previous post, I have little experience with mods, so don't expect me to be perfect in this field. That's not the case with Crusader, however, as I could make templates for the computer lords' castles and replace their voices. Animations are hard to edit as they are in bink format, and BinkVideo sells its copyrights very excusively and expensive. I'm rather defensive in Kingmaker. I tend to concentrate on setting up a full defense before going to battles so I can have a steady position to start with. I build more tower mangonels than ballistae, as troops are sent flying and several stones might reach such a range that a ballista would normally never could. Towers are filled with archers and crossbowmen, sometimes backed up with some outlaws as minimal protection. For sieges I prepare huge gold stocks and equipment. Expect many trebuchets, berserkers, pikemen and archers (sometimes with swordsmen). I usually attack on one front and cause great havoc there. Occasionally I send a mass of laddermen as cannon-fodders to cover the advancing troops and set off traps. Berserkers are just cheap and easy to pump out contrary to knights, which are devastating but easily hold off by stones and rolling logs. Especially against the Bull and the Hammer I host several catapults to send the enemy attackers to the other side. Personally, I agree with the Hammer cursing Sir Grey. Apparently, he's not much use both to you and William in the campaign. Grey cannot lift the siege of a relatively weak army from the Hawk, he always does the puny jobs of taking care Friar Jacob and staying behind, and he's just a coward (particularly at mission 6). Not to mention he is unprepared and just fails to fight an easy battle. He's the unluckiest, puniest and most pathetic character of all (even worse than Edwin in my opinion) by not succeeding any time. Mess around with the function keys combined with control (F1-F10) in Crusader to hear even harsher taunts. I had tested my ping to a British server and got only a mere 55 ms, which is an excellent result. To set up a SH2 server, you have nothing to do but to start a new game by the Multiplayer button. Clicking new game may bring up a similar panel to Kingmaker and simply wait others for joining in. You can set up a password to make it harder for other players to connect. What about a game in the weekend? Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 10:19, January 11, 2013 (UTC) Hi, In Hungary it's 1 hour later than GMT, so any of your suggested times would be just fine. Any invited mates would just bump the game itself :) I don't happen to own Legends but Crusader, so we should just stick to SH2. I use the title 'II. Zsolt' in my games (Zsolt the Second in English, pronouncing my name is a hard task either :))) ). As with servers, you don't need to have a password to play multiplayer. In fact, you can set up one on any hosted games to limit availability for others. That means, that if you have the server-specific code, you can enter the game. It's just simple. We can get round to playing apparently today in your suggested time interval, if I can get the multiplayer in my SH2 work. We just need to decide whether of us will host the server. I can do the task I think, but if we meet on the network, we can test if the other notices a setup server. Nevertheless, it should be just fine :) I'm sure I will let my name in the formula above, but I'll let you know if there is anything important. Please give me a sitrep if things are a subject to change. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 12:18, January 11, 2013 (UTC) I'm fine with today's 3.30 GMT, so we can have an intro game if you have spare time then:D I also have time on Saturday, Sunday is a little hard to make free, as I have exams next week. Nevertheless, I'm at your command both today and Sat. I won't be using any mods during gameplay, but rather my skills and intellect to bring down the opposition, so expect me anytime you want :D See you on the battlefield, Ixsc15 (talk) 13:18, January 11, 2013 (UTC) You were meaning 3:30pm (15:30) right? If I misunderstood this and you truly meant 3.30 at Saturday's dawn, I'd stick to your latter suggestion. Correct me if I was wrong :) No problem then, I was just confused about tonight, as 3.30 is right in the afternoon (English is not my mother language :) ) Anyway, let's have two games then. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 13:47, January 11, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: One important thing for multiplayer games: computer lords cannot be added to the gameplay as opposed to Kingmaker. Take this into account, so we're most likely to play as allies against a real human player some time. Hi, I'm online under the name 'Cassius II'. The password for the server is 'strongholdwiki', exclusively. See you there! Ixsc15 (talk) 15:34, January 11, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I got your message, but I noticed it way too late to react. Since there's no other option (at the moment), could we play in this evening as you suggested? Basically I'm free in the entire day, so I can adjust my time to you, if you'd prefer to play in another time :) Sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, I have completed the first half of mission 6 in the Path of War. A long time ago, I completed the mission in the suggested order: got disposed of Olaf, grabbed enough estates from Edwin, then laid the final siege. This time, I decided to twist this and first prepared against Edwin. To accomplish this, I first had to make sure Olaf won't terrorize me with his troops, so 20 archers and a dozen spearmen with 6 catapults made this job. Sometimes I had to reinforce this group, but eventually it held out. The catapults were targeting the mercenary post and the campfire, so few recruits came out. The spearmen were guarding the archers and they were sent to clear the enemy iron mines. Edwin was defeated by 30 archers and 10 catapults, levelling the entire wall section and some outer buildings. With this victory, I got around 15k gold, numerous stone, pitch, bows and spears and my castle was resited to Edwin's one, leaving my former castle as an ally. After a short time, I gained all but two estates of Edwin's, so I had completed two quests so far. This caused to taunt Olaf and prepare two invasions in different sizes. I had to quickly rebuild the foothold on the small peninsula and construct my defense line. Fortunately, my huge stockpile of bows and the garrison at my former castle (65-70 archers) came in handy, so I prepared the defense with only 30 archers and the catapults, while the other army rushed home. Olaf's vangaurd assembled at the east side of his castle then waited in front of the marsh. The smaller army was quickly decimated, but the large army was just rushing there when my 'Long March' of archers arrived. I could overtake the army and fortified a position just north to the bridge, so most of the soldiers died while crossing the two bridges. The remnants of the army (many laddermen and a few other troops) started the siege by a siege camp, which was erected a bit out of range, so my catapults could only destroy it after three enemy catapults rolled out to serve as targets for my archers. The laddermen and their comrades died very soon then. I didn't have to recapture any more estates, so I prepared the siege of Olaf. I set the ally to be offensive, which didn't do much. I noticed that he needs one more hovel, so added one, and as peasants came, my ally started to build an army of archers and spearmen. A small band of archers arrived first as harassment, but eventually a small siege force arrived with two catapults. I was busy replacing the fallen spearmen, so I let the allied force to break in. Olaf was killed then by numerous spearmen and I completed the mission. Sorry for the long post, but it's just awesome how diffferently can such a mission end :) Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 08:59, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi, Affirmative, I will host the server under the name 'Cassius II', with the same 'strongholdwiki' password. I'm awaiting you at 6.30! I suggest we discuss the map after you have joined to the server. (Easter egg: the game greets me like this: 'Greetings, Lord Caz!' :D ) Ixsc15 (talk) 17:57, January 12, 2013 (UTC) That's fine, I'm looking forward for a 2v2 game. It's a pity I don't know any friends who could play with us, but never mind:) For a time suggestion for next week's match I have to wait till Monday or Tuesday, since I've got exams to accomplish at the uni. I'll notify you if I can come up with one. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 18:05, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi, That's fine, working out our coop strategy is a great idea:) I think that Mr B and Ryan will very likely get used to the game, so that would be just useful. Let the game begin, Ixsc15 (talk) 19:00, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Try hosting a game, it keeps me throwing out over and over if possible. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 19:08, January 12, 2013 (UTC)